The Great Sage of Heaven
by JayF SB
Summary: Monkey trouble in Earth Bet. Hail the Great Sage Equal to Heaven
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1- Screeching Mountain.**

/x/

The Monkey waited, as his head with the golden sunburnt fur wet with rain and snow stuck out of the base of the mountain with the earth half a foot from his chin. Weeds and root grew around his simian head, while a worn woolly cap shook when he shivered. A golden headband that curved into a wave pattern peaked out from beneath the cap, while Monkey grew impatient. Clouds flared out of his nostrils as he snorted in impatience, and the blanket of snow that covered the bald trees miles away trembled when he coughed and screeched. Hours passed, as morning grew into noon and the sun began to give some mild warmth to Monkey while he waited in the stone. Fifteen feet above him was an inscription carved into the rock, it's power to bind him focused on a strip of brown paper that was pasted at the top.

 _Karma can be fickle, despite the Lord Buddha saying it's also predictable,_ Monkey thought, _for otherwise why would I be buried in the same rock I was born of thrice in my existence_?

Monkey shook the sleet off his head, as he dismissed the sudden interest in the dharma that popped in his head. The freezing wilds here were far from the incense filled shining halls of the temple where the Lord Buddha preached while he snoozed, so he waited as patiently as he could. Monkey hoped his newest friend will arrive before another deep sleep could claim him and he became buried under layers of root and dirt, and centuries will pass before he's awakened.

For a friend. Monkey's ears, already twitching in anticipation perked up as the sound of feet trudging through snow reached him before the scent did. Monkey laughed, a simian. screeching laughter that had sent stout hearted men who faced down storms, tornadoes and gunfire running for the hills, or rather, away from the hills in his case. Legends from the time of the native tribes that once roamed the lands spoke of Monkey, legends which Monkey had been very glad to share with anyone who dared to reach the valley where he laid. Monkey's mind wandered to the past, after he was cast down _again_ for one transgression too many, to the very few who found him.

First, it was the people who reminded him vaguely of the Tang people, whose Emperor his master had served. But instead of silk and tea, they smelled of fish, beaver, bear and deer. Memories centuries old, but still clear as day to Monkey showed a young strapping man in animal skins and a face painted with ash and animal fat that Monkey dubbed Painted Animal. Painted Animal, who fancied himself a warrior had struck him with a stone axe which Monkey laughed off. The man had yelled at him once his ax and all his tools broke, saying his screeching laughter scared away the fish and game. The man also gave Monkey his name, though originally it was far longer- The Mad Laughing Monkey of stone.

Of course, Monkey had taught Painted Animal the word that would become his name, for there were none of his people in this landmass. Monkey promised him all the fish and game in the mortal world Painted animal and his people could take if he could remove the paper charm that empowered the binding inscription, but Painted Animal only squinted at the rock above him and saw nothing. In the end, Painted Animal agreed to bring him when he could honey and berries in return for his stories. Years passed, and Painted Animal would bring his mate and brood to see the wise but noisy Mad Laughing Monkey. Children, as they're wont to do, would crowd around him and pet him, till he hissed to drive them away. It usually ended with Monkey being pelted with fruit by the children, while Painted Animal will laugh.

But Painted Animal then died as was the lot of mortals, and Monkey felt the urge to strike his name and those of Painted Animal's descendants away from the Book of Life and Death as he did for himself and his people ages ago. Yet the urge was soon washed away by the enlightenment and knowledge of the dharma, and Monkey content himself with the descendants of Painted animal when they made it a pilgrimage to see the Mad Monkey, to clear the weeds and dirt that threatened to bury his head. Monkey felt like the grand tombs of the Tang, waiting for pious descendants to descend on days to clean and pay homage to.

Painted Animals grandson didn't address him as Laughing Mad Monkey, for the screeching laugh of the trapped ape that drove away the enemies of his tribe stopped when his grandfather died. And as the Mad Monkey's howls faded in myth and memory, people from the mountains and plains to the west where the buffalo roamed arrived. From a weekly it became a monthly affair, until they visited during the dawn of a new year when it was coldest. The Monkey was no longer mad, but he wasn't wise for he spoke of places and spirits in impossible places. His children soon moaned and complained, of trekking through the barren mountain where only weeds, mud, rock and trees barren of fruit and poor wood grew. Time wasted when they could fish, hunt and make more children for the tribe.

For the children were dying, and soon the young, strong and old passed on as well. The Monkey saw what was happening and warned them, but his cries were carried into the wind with no answer.

And then just like the grand tombs of forgotten families in the Tang, Monkey was abandoned. In the moments before he felt another period of deep sleep descend upon him, Monkey's eyes burned bright as he saw far into the distance, to the village where Painted Animals descendants lived. Nothing of his human friends survived bar some homes half torn by the elements.

Monkey then slept once again, until one day he stirred at the presence of new people. Their clothes were made of hemp, leather and cotton like the people of the late Tang. Monkey saw the people of Xiyu in them, but they only saw the demons he used to hunt for sport and protection of his master. A few managed to find him, but none ever came back when the sight of the Monkey Demon scared them away. A monk with greyed red hair-like the people of Turfan-in black robes tried to exorcise him like some common spirit until he died of exposure and a cold. The new people stopped arriving altogether, and soon growing trees blocked off his valley from the rest of his mountain before he slept.

Until a violent storm a year ago ripped up the trees that hid Monkey from the outside world, and the friend who now trudges through the snow found him. His lips quivered in anticipation, and his golden eyes burned with a flame that turned the sleet on his head into steam when a thin man in a thick brown jacket and pants arrived at the entrance of his valley.

"Danny boy!" Monkey's voice thundered through the valley and the trees rustled, while Danny ran his idle hand over his shoulder length hair. "I thought you'd never arrive after you promised to arrive again last week."

"I can't be trekking three hours through Screeching Mountain to visit you everyday, Monkey," Danny said as he set out a dish and poured steaming white coffee from a flask. "Besides, you of all people should have known there's a blizzard blowing through. You warned me about it last week before I left with the medicine you gave me for my father."

Danny set the dish in front of Monkey, who sucked up the smoking drink in an instant. Monkey's burning eyes flared up at the sight of bright orange slices of fruit that tumbled out of a tumbler.

"Peaches!" Monkey screeched before he sucked in the damp fruit. "And so sweet!"

"Heard you mentioned you really missed them, so I made sure to bring the canned ones I found around this time when I came to visit you," Danny chuckled as he sat down cross-legged in front of Monkey on the snow. "So it's a gesture. Thanks for medicine that cured my dad's pneumonia, even if it's made of your spit and hair."

"Not a problem. Now do you believe I am who I said I am?"

"That you're some kind of god monkey born of a rock rather than a cape? Not much clues to search for who you're really are considering you don't even want to let me know your name, unless you really are called Monkey."

"My sworn brother who's the king of bull demons called me that!" Monkey declared proudly. "But my actual name won't be used until I break out of this mountain."

Danny's gaze followed Monkey's, as he gazed at the inscription and the paper charm that hung above him. Danny's eyes squinted, before he turned down to face Monkey.

"The charm and inscription. It's now only forty feet high."

"Forty?" Monkey snorted. "It's always been around twenty feet for me throughout all the years I've been trapped here. But at least you can see it now, so your karma's improving after ten visits to this place."

"My karma you said," Danny nodded and smiled. "The whole reason I found you after I got lost hiking, and then you blew me home safely with a single breath."

"Pretty much, yes." Monkey sighed before he gave a downtrodden look at Danny. "Not that you'd accumulate enough with me, since you're about to leave."

Danny remained silent, before he nodded his head.

"Very unusual, to be accepted at the start of November. You're certainly sanguine when I was planning to leave, Did it happen? With the Indian Painted Animal and his children?"

"Painted Animal's children's children to be specific, when they accompanied his grandson and thought I wasn't looking. At least you're not going to die on me."

"Thanks, Monkey. I promise to visit you whenever I'm on break from finishing school and college."

"Don't be promising things that'd harm ya, Danny boy," The woolly cap fell off Monkey's head when he shook it, revealing the golden headband to the sun. "Your father and you don't get along too well, putting it mildly. You go live a happy, fulfilling life and maybe I'd catch you seven incarnations down?"

"This karma thing," Danny's cheeks puffed as he bit sucked them in, before he started to brush Monkey's tangled fur. "Anger even against people who deserve it also detracts from it?"

"Kinda, though I'm not really the guy you ought to be consulting on this kind of thing. If all the rules were applied strictly to me for some of the shit I did in my wild days, I'd be condemned _forever_. Just take the time I peed into the Cauldron of Immortality after I swiped all the pills the Daode Tianzun was cultivating-"

"Wait. Back up. You what into a cauldron?"

"Peed into it," Rows of pearly white teeth peeked out from Monkey's lips, which sent a shiver up Danny's spine as he recalled what he learned about smiling apes. "Two centuries after that lesser deities were still complaining of the smell when they got their pills."

"I'm just glad your pills for my father didn't have any such pills then, Monkey," Danny said before he kept his brush and stood up, and human and ape exchanged glances. Danny lost himself in the golden flames that flickered in Monkey's eyes, ancient and piercing before he slung his backpack across his shoulders.

"Look, I promise you. No matter what happens, so long as you're trapped beneath Screeching Mountain me and my descendants will never forget you or leave you alone."

Daniel Hebert suddenly felt his knees give way and the sudden onset of vertigo when he slumped to the rock laden snow. Monkey's golden headband burned like molten steel, and Danny clutched his chest at a sudden burst of heat before it vanished. He stared at Monkey, who's face had excised all hints of mischief so inherent to the stone ape.

"Then I also promise you. Should you or anyone born of your seed ever manage to free me from the mountain, I shall serve him or her as loyally I did my previous master on the pilgrimage to the west, with the golden headband on my head as witness."

The molten glow on the headband vanished, with only dull almost rusted yellow metal left behind. Danny ears were accustomed to the ambient sounds of the mountain by now, whether the scurrying pitter patter of the squirrel and gliding of the snake in spring, or the fall of snow from a broken tree branch in winter. But all he heard now was his own heartbeat and breathing, while the smell of burnt hair and metal reminded him of what he just saw.

"Go in peace, Danny boy. We'll meet again, if our fates will it."

Danny's eyes narrowed.

"You never told me you were a believer in fates?"

Monkey bared his teeth while his eyes trailed upwards, to the hated words that trapped him beneath.

"I'm not."

/x/

So Monkey waited, and as the snow thawed while the sound of spring woke him from a years long sleep Danny returned with a woman in tow. The woman was tall and willowy, with black long curly hair up to her hips. The jacket she wore appeared almost too large for her and hugged her like a blanket, while her knee length boots sunk into the mud as she squatted to get a closer look at Monkey. Monkey could smell a mated pair, but even without his nose their mutual affection was clear.

"Monkey," Danny's once boyish chin had grown a manly stubble and age, but his once flowing hair was now only to his neck. "Meet Annette, my girlfriend and hopefully fiance."

"I know. I heard you when those noise making cars of yours were miles away from the mountain. Between you and those people down valley building something by the lake, this was the noisiest hibernation I've ever been in." Monkey hissed as Annette reached out gingerly with a finger, but she paused momentarily at the noise that sent every bird on the mountain scattering before she began to scratch Monkey's nose.

"I'll bite."

"No you won't. You're vegetarian."

"I just won't swallow. Doesn't count if I'm not eating the meat."

Annette frowned, before she turned to Danny.

"You know, Danny. If I hadn't heard from you Monkey was a cape that claims to be an asexual ape born from a rock, I'd swear he was trying to get fresh with me."

"Hey, I'm not some rag you throw over your shoulder!"

Danny ignored Monkey as he sighed, before he helped Annette to her feet.

"We've been through this, Annette. Oral records from the time of the extinct Indian tribes that once roamed here had ever found this valley until the Monkey allows it. The mountain remains, but the valley seemingly disappears throughout the decades."

"Don't tell me you actually believe what a strange parahuman is saying, Danny," Annette frowned. "Even now there's been reports of parahumans who're not all there mentally."

"I first met him years before Scion's first sighting, Anne. "

"Scion being the source of all capes is just an unproven rumor, Danny. Your discovery merely backdates the proven existence of parahumanity and-"

Both humans screamed and dropped to the floor cupping their ears as Monkey emitted a ear-piercing screech that shook the ground. Monkey looked at Danny, his head shaking as much as the rock allowed him to.

"Danny boy, I fear for your children if this shrew is going to raise your spawn. Trust your elders when I say I've met women like her all too often."

"So the delusional mountain cape is a sexist despite having a vocabulary," Annette said while she struggled to her feet. " Charming."

"Girl, show some respect and believe me when I say I'm older than the country your country is descended from," Annette glowered at Monkey, but kept silent as he puffed his cheeks before he slowly deflated them when she remained silent.

"In any case, the promise still holds. If you marry Danny boy and pop out a kid and free me before Danny does, he gets my protection and service as long as he breathes."

Annette scowled, but looked back when she felt Danny's hand over her own.

"Annette, let's just let it go and respect Monkey's wishes."

/x/

The years passed, and Monkey watched as the Heberts got married while he continued the verbal sparring with Annette. The Heberts even had a wedding photo shoot within the valley, and placed the developed photograph in front of him within a sturdy plastic frame along with a radio so he could have something to do between his hibernation periods.

Then the visits became an almost annual affair, and Monkey laughed in delight even as their new daughter Taylor grew from a baby pulling at his hair while Annette looked on horrified to a young girl who read to him her stories. Taylor grew older, and began to read to him not just her stories in books, but also news reports of events around the world when she grew older. The news bored him, but Monkey smiled and nodded as the growing girl read to him with her parents looking on in pride. Then one day, as Taylor grew from a child into a young lady bordering on adulthood an event happened that reignited in Monkey the hope he might be free.

It was early afternoon and Taylor spoke animatedly, her words and sentences flowed like the raging waves of the sea that divided the Lord Buddha's temple from the profane world when she yelped and jumped away from the rocky surface of the mountain. Monkey spun around and raised his head, and spat out a cherry's pit at the snake that crawled up hidden in the shade of the overhanging above Taylor. The seed split it cleanly in two while the surface of the rock cracked when the pit dug into the side of the mountain. Taylor breathed deeply while she shook, before her eyes focused on the snake as she leaned in closer towards the head of the snake.

"Careful. Some of them can still bite even after they're dead."

"I know this type of snake," Taylor wiped away the sweat on her brow, "It's not venomous."

"You could have been allergic, and you parents would have been one kid short after trusting you to visit me by yourself."

"Oh, they've no idea I'm here, Monkey," Taylor said without a care in the world as she shone her flashlight at the bloodstained spot where the snake had crawled on. "I'm just here for the orientation at the camp near the lake down valley from here before I enroll next year for summer. Was supposed to attend a tour for us potential attendees while the parents were briefed elsewhere, but I sneaked out."

"Wow," Monkey said flatly. "You sure your battleax of a mother isn't going to skin you alive if she catches you sneaking out while they're distracted."

"Mom's kind of a radical in her feminism back in the day from what Dad told me, but she usually ranted on how much of a misogynistic pig you are as the ur-example when she meets someone really obnoxious. She rated how bad a man was by how many Monkeys they were. Five was the worst."

"She really should meet my brother Bajie sometime," Monkey chuckled. "How many Monkeys does she rate me?"

"Seven," Taylor took out a handkerchief and wiped at the blood,her eyes fixed on the lines. "She considered the part of you stuck in the mountain and tail as two other monkeys."

"Actually, there's like seventy-two of me," Monkey stared at Taylor while she spread out her pink handkerchief and pressed against the bloodstained side of the mountain. "What are you doing?"

"Making an imprint, by using the blood as ink and pressing against the carvings on the wall. "

Monkey heard his heart pound against in his ears, as Taylor knelt down and spread out the bloodstained cloth. The words formed by the patches of pink against red had already long ago been carved onto his heart. Monkey's manic grin matched Taylor's own when they saw eye to eye.

"Do you see the paper charm, Taylor?"

"Yes," Taylor licked her dry lips. "Just inches away from me. If I tip toe I can reach it."

"Well then. Do it."

When Danny and Annette found their daughter three hours later, she sat on the floor, cross legged and downcast while Monkey's eyes were shut in bitter disappointment.

/x/

I counted down to the minutes till lights out on the second night of summer camp, having studied the patrol routes and schedules of the camp staff during my first night. I was familiar with the area, much more than anyone else here since It was only less than five miles north of Dad's childhood home and I've been traveling here since I could walk. On cloudy nights like this, I can even predict how and when the clouds will block out the moon to give me ample cover to go below the fence and into Screeching Mountain. I rolled out of bed and landed softly on the floor with my quilt to break any noise, dressed in a hoodie and a pair of trekking khakis over my track paints. As the moon hid behind the clouds I dashed into the temporary darkness between the lamps in camp before I leaped to the top of the fence, up and out of the grounds. The wind stirred as I predicted and the leafy undergrowth stirred nosily to provide cover when I landed outside.

I couldn't use a flashlight this close to the fence without risk of being spotted, but the faint light provided by the few stars that peaked out behind the clouds were sufficient for me to navigate into familiar paths that led to the valley.

Last year, after the first failed attempt to release Monkey I had developed a habit of speaking to myself incessantly while making my way into the valley where Monkey was. I tried another eight times, before I was dragged back to Brockton Bay. My parents were getting worried, and told me that I could try again next year when I came to the camp proper.

This time round, Dad's too busy losing himself dealing with Mom's death so both my parents weren't around to stop or assist me. Instead of rambling on what to say when I met Monkey, I only heard my sneakers crunch against branches and dust as I ran through the familiarly treacherous path to the valley. I saw his eyes long before I saw the entrance to that valley, a pair of mini suns that burnt brightly in the darkness. The founding of the CUI and the subsequent deluge in Asian literature had shed new light on Monkey's claims.

Mom was adamant he was a deranged cape, but If Monkey is indeed who he has hinted to be...

"Taylor," Monkey said, all traces humor and levity gone from his voice. "I know that look. Danny? Annette? Both? Or did you somehow burst your way out of the netherworld?"

"Mom's dead. Car accident."

My eyes quickly found the charm, the rectangle piece of brown paper still as fresh and unsullied as the time I first saw it eleven years ago. The lower half of the charm dangled an inch above Monkey's headband, teasing him with freedom. I could almost smell the snakes blood mingled with my handkerchief. My fingers dug into the top edge of the paper, and the world shook as it inched away from the rock of Screeching Mountain.

"So you can already know what I want. Does your promise still hold?"

"My old master was completely devoted to the idea of pursuing Enlightenment and bringing it to the masses, so something like this never crossed his mind."

"But yes, I'll do it for you just as I would have done it for him," Monkey's golden headband smoked and glowed, while he hissed in pain as it contracted into his skull. "Now hurry, this thing knows what's going on and it's going to extract it's pound of flesh."

With a flick of my fingers, the charm came off. Screeching Mountain was no more.

/x/

Lao of the Azn Bad Boyz, the original and the later bastardized chimera it became under Lung could not believe his luck. In every sense of the word.

At first it seemed like a jackpot. A young, pretty white bitch with some useless nerd of a father who was easily subdued to be later thrown into the Bay, while the pretty white bitch can be sampled before set to work in another city far away for a handsome price. It was like New Years Day and Qing Ming had come together.

Not that the two festivals ever did, and if it did Lao'd tell his ancestors that Qing Ming or no they can stay dead in their tombs which he can't be bothered to locate anyway. And when that redheaded white bitch fought back, Lao got excited since it meant he can show of to the Boyz how to handle the unruly merchandise without using drugs like some degenerate Merchant. This way, he can make pimp or even trainer. And Lao was glad, for he was a gangster with aspirations.

But then the ground opened up, and Lao swore he heard his long deceased first wife who fell off the last boat leaving Hong Kong when he pushed her before a naked monkey popped out of it swearing about reincarnation schedules. Monkeys were by definition naked, and it should have been redundant to mention the unclothed state of any simian.

But most monkeys didn't have fireballs for eyes, wear golden headbands or rest a staff made of red and gold iron on their shoulders. The rest of the ABB gathered, a proud outstanding crew of murderers, racketeers,, thugs and bootleggers stood frozen before they shivered when the monkey's glare ran over them. Lao swore loudly and colorfully in his native Cantonese when the monkey locked gazes with him and smiled.

Of course, Lao had worked in a restaurant that served monkey back home, and the first thing the chef told him about monkeys was when they smiled with teeth apart they weren't actually smiling.

"Hey, someone who speaks my language," the monkey drawled while he tilted his head forward slightly. "It's like I'm home in Changan! So you know what I'm saying when I tell you to release the young lady you're holding right?"

"Uh..."

"Yes. The same girl whom you punched as I was breaking out of Hell, and whose clothes your hands are currently trying to rip apart. Hands off."

Lao hesitated, before he squeaked and leapt backwards from the girl when the monkey sighed. The monkey flashed a thumbs up sign when Lao and the rest of the ABB dropped their ill-gotten gains and raised their arms into the air. Emma clutched her torn shirt together as she stumbled towards her savior along with her father, and stood behind the monkey.

"Hi Emma," Monkey winked. "Taylor told me all about you."

Emma drew a sharp breath, while Alan stared at his daughter confused when she returned a smile with her bruised and cut lips.

"You're Monkey," Emma's smile turned dark as her mind calmed from the fear and adrenaline. "You're S-"

"Wow!" Monkey pressed a finger against Emma's lips. "Not so fast."

Monkey pointed the tip of his staff at Lao, who dropped to his knees.

"Great Sage! Mercy!"

"So you know who I am?"

"Of course! Who doesn't know of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Sun Wukong!"

Wukong turned away from the trembling form of Lao towards Emma, before he plucked out a handful of hair from his right arm.

"While I would love to serve up some justice of my own, I am supposed to be repenting for some mistakes I've made in Paradise, so will you be so kind and use one of those cellphones to call what passes for law enforcement here?"

Emma's smile faltered, but nodded while Alan began to dial emergency lines. Sun Wukong's smile in contrast got wider, as he brought up the fistful of fur to his face.

"That said, wanna see a magic trick?"

The fur scattered across the alley when Wukong blew, and monkeys from the size of a child to great apes crowded the place and bared their teeth at the ABB.

"Meet my children, the monkeys of my mountain. Each of them as immortal as I, and so, _so_ , frustrated after close to six hundred years of doing squat!"

Emma clung closer to to Wukong's arm, and wandered if she wanted to see what's coming.

"They also happen to see, and smell what I've seen and smell. And boy do some of you reek!"

"Great Sage!"

Wukong stuck his staff into the ground, and leaned against it as the monkeys closed in.

"Have fun! Just make sure they're alive and in one piece for the locals to collect!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2- Monkey in the Bay.  
**  
/x/

Screeching Mountain's collapse was gradual, rather than dramatic as I had envisioned. I ran as quickly as my feet and lungs would allow me out of the mountain once the trembling started, until I found myself swept off my feet and up the sky. The freezing wind numbed me, my eyes in pain from the lashing air and rain. I shivered, my teeth chattering till a flame was lit in my chest and the heat spread to the rest of me. The noise of the mountain's death and the roar of the sky became muted, and I could suddenly see again without the sting of the breeze forcing my eyes shut. A damp but warm arm, covered in golden fur tried it's best to wipe away the water and god knows what was stuck on my face but I pushed it away before I glared downwards.

Sun Wukong smiled at me, teeth closed while I sat on his shoulder. Golden brown fur, with twigs and root stuck within clumps while he hunched slightly forward. His tale flapped about like a windsock in a hurricane and his ever-present grin promised mischief and mayhem now that he was free. I strained my neck and looked pass Wukong, towards the crumbling Screeching Mountain while a cloud gradually enveloped it. My ears still rang from the shock earlier, but my heartbeat slowed while Wukong hummed a nonsensical tune while admiring his handiwork.

"I maybe biased," Wukong said," but I never get tired of watching mountains collapse to signify a new age. The avalanche afterwards is always a sight to behold, and I've watched stars be born when I'm bored!"

Avalanche? My eyes traveled from Screeching Mountain down valley, and they widened when I saw the tide of mud and rock.

"Wukong! The camp!"

Credit to where it's due. The summer camp came to life as the lights went on and sirens blared. The staff didn't flee for their own lives, but performed their duties admirably as they started to hustle my camp mates towards vehicles and boats on the river. But there's no way they'd outrun the avalanche. I estimate only half might make it to the lake, and even then it'd not assure their safety. I turned towards Wukong, who returned me a knowing grin.

"What about your mother?"

"The living comes first, Wukong! Save them!"

"Watch me do both!"

With a yelp, Wukong leaped backwards while I fell on a golden cloud. I scrambled to my feet, and saw Wukong split into at least a dozen clones. He screeched, and the people who were running for their lives froze like figures in a photograph before Wukong and the clones swept them up and placed them into buses, cars and boats carried by those not busy collecting the people. I almost burst out in nervous laughter at the sight of houses, cars, ships and buses being hauled off into the distance and safety by six feet tall monkeym but the tension left me and my limbs gave way. I crashed headfirst into the fluff of the cloud, like a pillow that smelled of the valley and Wukong's hai before I heard Wukong's screech inside my ear.

Chains and moans in the distance accompanied the dull beat of trudging feet, and my heart tensed as bile rose in my throat. The oppressive weight on my chest that manifested moments before I received news of Mom's death, and the whole reason I even came here only a year after Mom's burial. I began to choke and turned over to stare at the uncaring night, images of Mom's sealed casket flashed across my eyes until I heard it.

Wukong's laughter. Part simian screech, part mockery and assurance in the inevitable victory. Triumphant and swagger incarnate, terrified yelps and the scramble of feet replaced the somber acceptance of death I heard and felt. Though I could not see it, I knew Wukong was at least letting me _hear_ him demanding my mother back.

"Oh sweet Buddha! Sun Wukong is back in hell again!"

"My horns!" A male voice, punctuated by bovine groaning. "Don't let him use my horns as drumsticks again. Hide the boiling oil cauldron before he uses it as a drum again!"

I've got a feeling Sun Wukong's both well-known and unwelcome down there.

"It's that damn monkey again! Barricade King Yama's Palace! Inform Heaven he's loose!"

Yeah. Wukong needs to learn some manners.

"Judge!" Wukong drawled, and I felt the cold touch of a metal staff on my shoulders. "Oh Judge! Quit hiding and come out already!"

Not a squeak. Only cowed, silent submission from the avatars of death.

"Fine. I'll drop by King Yama's home. It's been a while since I crashed at his place."

Sounds of a desk being overturned and crashing glass, before hurried breaths and wheezing conjured in my mind the image of a flunky eager to save his job.

"Great Sage!" I could almost hear the fawning smile on the speaker's face. "You're free! And here to wreck havoc again!"

"You sure know how to get to an old monkey's heart, Judge," he choked while I heard Wukong grab the Judge into a crushing hug. "Anyways, you have an Annette Rose Hebert who kicked the bucket the past year? Lemme look for something on your desk to draw her with-Ooh! One of those fancy electronic drawing pads Master told me about!"

"Great Sage! Please!" Wukong cackled while the Judge attempted to wrest it away from him. I've a feeling Wukong's a bit of a bully. "I can just bring up the pictures of all the recently deceased with that name."

Wukong's feet tapped like the raindrops pelting the roof in a storm as I heard him grunt, before the Judge yelped again when Wukong screeched and I heard him being pulled in.

"What're you playing at, Judge? None of the deceased here match that shrew!"

"Great Sage! I swear upon all eighteen levels of hell this are all the souls bearing this name currently still within our realm!"

My heart sank, as I began to contemplate a possibility that Mom's lost to us for good.

"Mo-Wukong," I bit my lower lip before I continued. "Ask for the list of those who've been reborn."

"You heard my master! Cough up the list, Judge!"

"Of course, Great Sage." Wukong clicked his tongue the minute Judge was done speaking. "I see you've found your quarry!"

"Trust me, Judge. If it were up to me, she wouldn't be qualified for this kind of sweet deal at rebirth. Destined to a long happy life in a stable, prosperous family? Why not throw her Enlightenment and a ticket to the Western Paradise the minute she croaks?"

The cloud landed on an open field, the soil tilled ready to receive a new crop of whatever was planted. A new start, kinda like how it was with Mom. Wukong literally popped into existence next to me with the sound of a bubble bursting, he smelt of sulfur and wet earth. His tail swung low beneath his hips, downcast while his fingers fiddled with both sides of that staff, the Ruyi Jingu Bang if I remember correctly.

"Well Master. Since you already heard the bad news first hand, though it's not really that bad since your old lady's really in a far better place now, I've got some better news for you."

I turned my bag on Wukong, while I rubbed my eyes and nose. I've cried enough at Mom's passing. This is just the night chill causing my eyes to water and nose to sniffle.

"Yeah, while you cry it away Master. At the same time I was paying a visit to the ghoulies below, I dropped by your home town in Brockton Bay. Only took me about two somersaults and a dig around the earth before I found it. "

"And?"

"I found a young lady who looks like your friend Emma and her father being waylaid by some local bandits. They kinda recognized me, so they did the smart thing and gave up instead of trying to fight me or run."

"So you saved Emma and handed them over to the police?" I sniffed before offering Wukong a smile. "Thanks."

"Well, I did hand them over to the police, but I felt I had to make a mark on them somehow. You know, so people realize the Great Sage Equal to Heaven is back in town."

"Please don't tell me you-"

"Killed them? No!" Wukong shook his head and his arms while he screeched. "I'm not the old,wild me that'd smack someone's head in on a whim, Master. I just did something that'd ensure everyone in Brockton Bay's going to be talking about it long into the future, and plain old ultra violence isn't going to cut it."

Wukong strode up to me, and placed a hairy paw on my shoulders.

"I summoned up a whole bunch of my old monkey kids, and we pelted them with out poop. Spelled out my name on the walls and floors of that alley too."

Ewww! I slapped Wukong's hand away while he cackled.

"That's _disgusting_! At least tell me you washed up before coming back!"

"Have you ever met a monkey that will willingly wash himself up?"

"Wukong!" Despite myself, I was laughing out loud.

"Fine," Wukong rolled his eyes. "That was another me that shat over those thugs, and your friend Emma was smart enough to leave once she smelled and heard what my chimps were doing."

"That's better," I said while I wiped away the fresh tears on my cheeks.

"You feeling better, Master?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "I mean, I would love to have been able to speak to her one more time or even have her back. But knowing she's in a better place now?"

A sudden breeze blew my hair into my eyes, and the smell of compost to my nose. I brushed it away, just in time to see a full moon bright and cheery cast her light on the field awaiting new life.

"I can work with that."

"Great," Wukong said, the smile on his face serene and ancient. I'm suddenly reminded this was a being that's older than the country I was born in and the language I spoke. "Then I can divert a bit more attention to Danny boy and help him move on from that shrew."

Dad. If anything he's probably worse off than I am in dealing with Mom's accident since she was texting him before the crash.

"You can start by not calling Mom a shrew in front of him, Wukong."

/x/

Emily Piggot was a woman of considerable age, and her steel blue eyes had seen a lot of shit in her time. She settled into her seat, which creaked against her weight while the sound of the plastic cover of her cushion reminded her uncomfortably of her bowel movements.

Emily slammed shut the folder, that was detailing the latest issue to float to the surface like the contents of a burst sewage pipe in this crappy city-

The director pushed herself up from the seat and pointedly avoided the milk coffee in her mug while helping herself to a paper cup of water from the fountain. Her mood was in the pits as usual, and now her thought process was fixated on fecal matter thanks to the pictures of the latest cape out to make a name for himself in the city.

By smearing said name all over an alley, spelled out in Asian characters seven feet tall.

 _Monkey poop,_ Emily drank a second cup of ice cold water as if to wash away the images stuck in her mind like the contents of a cubicle wall. _The new cape nearly drowned six ABB in fucking monkey poop_.

Emily went back to her desk, quickly flipping the offending pictures over while she focused on the written words on sterile white paper. At least the new parahuman had ensured the civilians he rescued was out of range before he began his mayhem on the hapless ABB, while the testimony from both the civilians and the few ABB not reduced to a gibbering mess made pinpointing the new capes ID easy. Not that their monkey themed parahuman was very keen on hiding his name, but from the research that Armsmaster had provided along with the report this cape wouldn't hide who he is for anything.

A culturally significant cape name, along with a theme that's instantly recognizable by the ABB. Lung has a new challenger? Or is it...

Emily shook her head, as she shelved the report and pressed her intercom. There will be time to dig into the backstory of this new brewing conflict, but any chance to potentially wipe out one of the largest parahuman gangs in Brockton Bay ought to be seized upon immediately.

"Armsmaster. Kindly drop by my office please."

"Actually. I'm right outside as I was on my way with more information on our newest addition to the cape scene," Armsmaster strode in, a small wax idol of a humanoid monkey wielding a stick with two peacock feathers sticking out of it's headdress held in his left hand and a thin file on his right. Emily's eyebrows rose in Armsmaster placed the ten inch figure on her desk, but said nothing.

"This is?"

"Sun Wukong, if you go by the Mandarin and most common widespread version of him. Turns out our simian hero maybe more than just a literary figure," Emily held the figure closer, her nose wrinkled at the smell of incense while Armsmaster continued. "He's still actively worshiped by a large number of the local Asian population. Thais, Chinese, Vietnamese and even Koreans."

"They worship a fictional character?"

"More like the novel took an existing folk deity and made it into the main character. Think a Greek writer taking Apollo or Zeus and inserting it into his play. Or a Norse saga writer employing Thor for his stories."

"Never took you for an cultural anthropologist, Armsmaster," Emily placed the statue back on her desk, the lights of her office reflected off the gold paint on it's eyes. "But how does this help us ensure that Sun Wukong joins us or at least remains out of the clutches of a gang?"

"With the Empire's obsession with pseudo Norse religion and the myriad Asian cultures of the ABB? Knowing your enemy, or at least your target for us would help prevent Wukong from ending up aligned with someone else. If he's a fresh trigger, than he's likely to be obsessed with keeping in character considering his debut."

"Well thought profile on the new cape, Armsmaster. Splendid performance," _Takes one to known one._ " I presume you've already started your plans?"

"Indeed," Emily's inbox alarm rang, and she arched an eyebrow at the large file attached with the mail. "An unabridged translated version of the novel Journey to the West, with an attached glossary that Dragon helpfully provided with the translation."

"I want all the Protectorate members to be familiar with it's contents within seventy-two hours. The Wards will get a week, starting from now."

Emily downloaded the file, and skimmed the foreword before noticing Armsmaster was still standing there.

"There's more to add?"

"I've another theory, one prompted by placing together the ABB testimonies and those of the Barnes," Emily leaned forward in her desk and nodded for Armsmaster to continue. "I believe that Sun Wukong maybe a projection or creation of an extremely potent Tinker or Master."

Emily frowned as she felt her good mood evaporate. Two classes of parahumans most likely to create mayhem by their very nature.

"How did you reach this conclusion, Armsmaster?"

"Not a conclusion, just a possible scenario," Armsmaster emphasized, "but one that should be considered. Sun Wukong knew Ms Barnes, and gave names of another girl. Ms Barnes on her part appears to be at least partially aware of the nature of Sun Wukong."

"And so you'll be visiting this girl and her family?"

"Yes," Armsmaster placed the file on Emily's desk. "She's a minor and civilian not directly involved in parahuman activity, so It's only proper that you're informed and advised on the situation and probable avenues."

 _Using me as a potential scapegoat in case things go to shit, Armsmaster?_ Clever. Emily read the profile, before she nodded and slid the file back to Armsmaster.

"It's been awhile since the Protectorate visited Winslow High School. Since both girls of interest are enrolling there, maybe you should drop by during the first day for all the new students."

"I'd prefer to be able to speak to Ms Hebert in an interview with her parent in attendance," Armsmaster frowned. "A school visit is hardly conducive."

"Work with what you have, Armsmaster," Emily shook her head. "It's still too much conjecture, not enough fact at this point."

Armsmasters' frown grew deeper, but he nodded and retrieved the file before leaving the office. Emily allowed herself a small smile, before she began to read the file.

/x/

 _What the fuck did I just see_?

Shadow Stalker turned solid again as she landed on the roof of an apartment building two blocks away from that alley. The alley that the PRT will no doubt seal off with some heavy duty bio-hazard teams in the hours to come, and will enter into the annals of the simply weird happenings of Brockton Bay. Even during the war between Marquis and the Slaughterhouse Nine had something quite like this happen. Shadow Stalker adjusted her hockey mask, and ran the tip of her fingers over the bolts that laid hidden within her cloak. The feel of their barbed tips comforted Shadow Stalker, a reminder of the source of strength and survival in this world.

Violence, pain and the ability to inflict it. Not...monkey poop.

 _Still, scat aside I should keep a lookout for this monkey cape_ , Sophia thought as she scoured below for prey. _I don't think even Hookwolf got the ABB goons dropping to their knees begging for mercy by reputation alone. Better go check up on this Great Sage character_.

"Looking for me?"

Shadow Stalker turned around, and let loose with one of her lethal bolts at the source of the voice. Her eyes narrowed when the barbed tip bounced off the fur of the monkey.

"Great Sage, Sun Wukong."

"It's the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Sun Wukong mind. But you can just call me Wukong if you want. I've got a soft spot for damaged, violent girls who try to kill me on sight."

Shadow Stalker backed to the edge of the roof, with an abandoned building just less than ten feet across the gap. With the wind in her favor, she can leap across in one jump in cloud form.

"What do you want, Sun Wukong?"

"Just to chat," Wukong rested his head on his right hand, as he sat cross legged on the floor. " Might not look it, but I'm technically an enlightened buddha and helping lost hurt people find their way through shedding attachments is kinda my job. So speak away, for class is in session."

"So you're a religious nut," Shadow Stalker snorted. "But that hippie bullshit isn't going to help you when Lung charbroils your little monkey petting zoo, or Hookwolf skewers them. You gotta get real to survive, to avoid turning prey rather than predator."

"What good's surviving if the place doesn't become better," Wukong shook his head. " I sought immortality because I wanted more than to just survive till I die- hey! Where you going."

Shadow Stalker stood at the edge of the roof, before she turned into a cloud of smoke and was carried by the wind into the abandoned building. The cloud floated down, past the broken windows and crumbling floors until she reshaped at the ground floor. Shadow Stalker got to her feet, dusted herself before she noticed a lock of golden fur lodged in her crossbow.

 _Hey, girlie!_

Shadow Stalker ditched her crossbow,and spun around with her knife drawn.

 _If you can hear me, just know that I've gone elsewhere to deal with some other stuff. But if you ever wanna talk or need my help just holler my name. My hearing's pretty good._

The fur twitched in the breeze, before it crumbled into dust and was swept away. Shadow Stalker gingerly went over to her primary weapon, and carefully examined the string and release on her crossbow.

 _I mean it._

Shadow Stalker spun around and loosed a bolt, only for it to stick into a heavily vandalized wall. Her fingers trembled, before Shadow Stalker kept her crossbow and decided to head home.

"Seriously, Wukong." Shadow Stalker muttered under her breath. "Fuck off." 


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3- Worms. Dragons and Monkeys**

/x/

That Dad was waiting for us on the front porch wasn't surprising considering that a collapsing mountain and landslide would be on the news within minutes of it happening. Dad's smart enough to put two and two together, but what shocked me was the bandage he applied over his left palm. I jumped off the cloud once we were about a foot off the pitch, and ran towards Dad while panting from the excitement of traveling on a flying cloud. His shirt was half buttoned from the waist up, while his hands were damp with traces of soap. Dad gave me a quick glance and smile before resuming his glare at Wukong and Wukong helped to calm things down by giving a wide grin and resting on his staff.

Wait. Did I say calm things down?

Silly me.

This is _Sun Wukong_ we're talking about, who once made Mom so mad she yelled at him until her face turned blue because she forgot to pause for breath during their shouting match. He said something sexist, even for him to set her off. I was about seven at the time, but it was something about there's only one female being he ever felt respect for, and that was the Goddess of Mercy Guanshiyin, or Guanyin for short. Mom actually paused, her scowl morphed into a confused frown before Wukong dropped his idea of a punchline.

"And she used to be a man, only turning into a woman to get some lovesick princess out of her hair!"

Wukong loves to poke people when they're mad, is what I'm saying. Though Mom did get one over the monkey when we had our picnic by leaving the dish of honey Wukong so loved _just_ out of reach. Dad looked the other way and ignored Wukong's pleas for help, guilty because he had laughed at Wukong's admittedly sexist pig zinger.

"Hiya, Danny boy," Wukong waved at Dad, his half lidded stare and grin designed to raise your heckles while Dad stomped over to him with murder in his eyes. "Broke anything important while washing the dishes?"

"Screw you, Monkey," Dad clenched his fists, "that's over the line, even for you."

"What? You didn't appreciate the real time update about that shrew somehow gaming the karma system and getting the best possible deal barring Nirvana?" Wukong scratched his head, "I thought you loved her?"

I'd tell off Wukong for calling Mom a shrew after I specifically told him not to, but Dad got to him first by socking him right in the jaw. Dad hissed as he rubbed his right knuckles, while Wukong stared at me sprawled out on the floor with nary a care in the world.

"Master?" I resisted the urge to step on Wukong's tail as I walked over and loomed over him, "I think your father has some anger issues."

"And I think I know why," I said before I sighed and turned to Dad. The bruises on his right knuckle were concerning, but Dad shot that concerned smile he used when he noticed me being worried over him before I could speak.

"Glad you're back safely, Taylor. Don't worry about the camp management, and let me deal with it."

I bit back the swear word that nearly rolled off my tongue as I felt Dad brush me away like he almost always did after Mom died. If Mom had moved on, I'm not about to let Dad be left behind as I walked ahead.

"Dad,"

I stared into his eyes while his fatherly mask remained unshakeable. The words that had remained buried in the part of my chest that after Mom died, words that I couldn't bear to speak to Dad while I was also running and hiding from her death finally bubbled to the surface. All this while Wukong's golden eyes that burned away lies looked on.

"Stop pushing me away."

"Kiddo, you're-"

I continued looking at him, as the mask he hid behind started to crack. Wukong leaped to his feet, and swaggered over while Dad glanced at him almost with relief at the distraction.

"Wukong, not now."

"Master," Wukong actually smiled before he leaned towards me. "Why not let me talk to the man I watched grow up? Monkey to man."

"Wukong."

"Danny boy's losing himself in all those roles he's playing as father, husband and manager until he's lost the man he's supposed to be," Dad remained stoic, but his eyes twitched for a second before Wukong gently led me by the shoulder away from Dad and placed himself between us.

"More than just privacy and his pride, Master. Danny boy just needs to live as himself again, but no way that's going to happen when his daughter's right in front of him."

I looked away from Wukong and shut my eyes to gather my thoughts, in the dark space of my mind I found so familiar and safe when it's only myself and me.

Torrents of words, a speech that I've practiced to myself on the cruise in the clouds from the camp back to Brockton Bay threatened to burst out right here right now. I wanted to yell at Dad for burying himself in the union and other matters while he ignored my puffed eyes from crying over Mom. I yearned to lash out how he took fatherhood at the most superficial level, until Emma had to step in and guide me out of the shadows of Mom's passing. The urge to confess to him my fear that the car crash had took both my parents away, leaving only the empty shell of Daniel Hebert who heard but didn't listen and looked but didn't see.

To not just speak, but emote the dread I felt over losing him. How dare Wukong presume to know my own father better than me. My eyes snapped open, venom on the tip of my tongue until I saw Wukong's face. All-knowing with the swagger that accompanied him like the scent of rock and mud.

"Master, work with the fact that your mother's somewhere better now. I needed a mountain to pin me down, but you're burying yourself rock by rock."

Being lectured to by a monkey, even one as old as Wukong is. Heartfelt words of pain and guilt turned into so much noise, as tension washed off me and I walked towards the house.

"Dad? Wukong?" I turned back to them, and Wukong gave me a thumbs up while Dad looked confused.

"Enjoy yourselves," I said before I walked into the house. I reached the bottom of the stairs when I heard Dad start to yell again, but the spring and sense of weightlessness in my step didn't diminish as I ascended the steps. The lights in my room were off, but I stepped into my unlit room almost giddy. I felt like my age again, and looked forward to a new day. I almost kicked off my pants when I switched to my sleeping clothes, and the full moon shone into my face as I turned to face the window. Wukong and Dad's voice trailed upwards as the door closed and I heard the clinging of glasses from the kitchen, but the sounds felt like so much white noise while I focused on the moon.

Samsara. The word was whispered in my voice while I gazed upon Chang E and Kaguya's home. The perfect sphere and pockmarked surface of the moon seemed to illustrated the circle of life, aging, disease and then death. And then there were factors from the Endbringers down to the mundane like the car crash that ended the cycle prematurely.

Just like it was with my mother, and how it could have been anyone else like Dad or even myself. As my mind wandered like many times before, the tightening of my chest and the pain of loss loomed, but this time it was dulled like the wound had finally closed. The full moon spun, and I felt time and fate roll forward again.

My fingers twitched at a sudden warm breeze that blew on my right hand, and slowly I looked down at a chain of pearl white rosary beads that nestled between my thumb and index finger. Did Wukong put them there? Or was it something else. Yet I could not conjure up the nerves required I should have felt at the sudden intrusion into my room no matter how benign it was, yet I yawned secure in the security that watched over me just downstairs.

/x/

Danny stared at the ornate glass bottle inside the liquor cabinet, which contained a vintage whiskey he had promised Annette was for their twentieth anniversary. The insides of the wooden cabinet and the clear glass bottle had a layer of dust over them, the whiskey bottle being the only thing that was inside. The musty smell that greeted Danny once he unlocked the cabinet reminded him of how long it was since someone opened it, and Danny sneaked a glance behind his shoulder, almost expecting Annette going hammer and tongs with Monkey.

No such luck. Danny bit his lower lip and sucked in some air before he took out the bottle and slammed the cabinet shut. He ignored the small cloud of dust that was stirred up beneath the cabinet doors and walked towards the table where his guest and two shot glasses await.

"Monkey, I-"

"It's Wukong, Danny boy. You heard the entire conversation between myself and those of the Underworld."

Danny sucked in a gulp of air, before he went and pulled out an ice tray. Wukong stared at him silently, the clinging of ice cubes against the glasses deafening in the silence before Danny pulled up a seat and sat opposite him. Danny stared at Wukong as he filled both their glasses and he downed his shot in a gulp. Wukong giggled when Danny bent over in a coughing fit, but waited for his host and friend patiently to recover.

"Why?"

"Why what, Danny boy? Be saved by your daughter? Laugh as you choke on hard whiskey as you downed it like a chum despite not having drank for years? Have my clones leave my calling card right this very moment all over the buildings of a certain part of town?"

"Don't be glib, Wukong," Danny snapped. "I'm talking about Annette."

Wukong raised his right hand, pointed skyward with two fingers outstretched while he placed his left over his chest.

"I swear upon my Buddhahood and may this golden headband rip out my skull if I lie, I refrained from spraying the word Shrew all over your dead wife's tombstone out of respect for our friendship."

Danny was inches off his chair, before he sighed and sat down again. He took a small sip of a fresh glass of whiskey, while giving Wukong the dirty eye.

"Her death, Wukong. Why do you insist on this whole charade of tying Annette's death to Taylor and me? We were moving past, moving on?"

"Really?" Wukong reached behind Danny and plucked out a long strand of black, wavy hair. "Seems to be you're still carrying her around all the time, like how you'd carry Taylor when she's too tired to trek anymore."

Danny's chair clattered nosily against the wooden paneling of the kitchen floor as it tipped over when he leaped to his feet and turned around. Danny's face fell when he saw nothing but the living room behind him.

"That's low, Wukong."

"I didn't do anything, except make you see what's in your mind all the time all the time Danny boy."

Wukong hissed as he sipped the whiskey, while Danny pulled his chair back up, and slumped onto the table. He buried his face in his hands, before Danny slapped his cheeks and sat back into his chair.

"Fine, you win, Wukong." Danny shrugged his shoulders. "Annette's dead and no longer exist anywhere in any world, and I'll become a model father again after Taylor awakes in the morning. Satisfied?"

"Danny boy. Have you forgotten what I told you about karma, and how it's linked to the attitudes and actions of our daily life?"

"Are you implying Annette's-"

"Why would I do that about someone who's no longer around in every sense of the word, Danny boy?" Danny's voice and anger deflated at Wukong's nonchalance. "Think about yourself for a moment?"

"I caused her death?!"

"Only if you think all those ass-whuppings your old man gave you was caused by yourself, Danny boy. And you know how much I keep telling you that's not the case."

Man and monkey sat in silence, before Danny broke the silence.

"I have a confession to make."

"Okay," Wukong hissed satisfied as he drained his glass. "Let me set things up a bit."

Danny blinked, before he growled and pushed aside the sliding doors. He grabbed Wukong by the collar, and the crucifix that dangled off Wukong's neck swung in the breeze.

"Please do not hit the priest in the confessional box, my son."

"Zip it, Wukong. And your costume's more of a Puritan preacher from two centuries ago than modern Catholic priest anyway."

"Fine, be a bore," Wukong snapped his finger as the screen doors disappeared. "I'm keeping the costume though. He's like, the fifth guy after Painted Animal's tribe died off."

Danny rolled his eyes, but let Wukong go as he sat back down.

"Wukong? You once told me that karma can be passed down onto my kids."

"Nope. I said that your own karma can affect theirs since they are your kids and the spillover effects are gonna get them, but you basically answer for your own deeds."

"Well," Danny's hands clenched into a fist. "My father's karma certainly got to me. I threatened to hit Annette in the morning of the day she died, after we had another fight about you and Taylor."

"So you think between that and Annette texting you while driving, you drove her to her death? And you see shades of your father in your actions."

"Was I somehow responsible, Wukong," Danny's voice was barely a whisper. "Struggled with this my whole life, and when it leaked out Annette died the same day."

"While, Danny boy," Wukong said as he opened up the fridge and helped himself to a box of strawberries. "How many noes do you want? Because I'm going to give all of them to you."

"Wukong..."

"Karma isn't a vending machine, Danny boy. Insert sufficient good deeds and thoughts, instant blessing. It also comes in the force of greater karmic forces beyond your control and you get swept up in their circles. Like how my master built up her karmic destiny to become the one to save me by being born into your family, which ended up with you knowing me because your ancestors inherited the lands I was trapped in. It rolls down, and Taylor ended up having the fate, intent and drive to be the one to free me instead of you."

Danny stared at his glass, empty of whiskey but full of melting ice.

"Same goes for Annette. She clung to her view of reality, went hammer and tongs with me most of the damn time. And in the end died while typing angry messages to you.:

"She was going to leave me, Wukong."

"You sure?"

Wukong swiped at the air, and a cloud formed into a phone that the monkey began to type furiously on.

"Annette Hebert may be a shrew, an old chain and balls, and won't know fun if it bit her in the rump with a name tag spelling his name. But one thing she wasn't, was stupid."

"It was the first time things got so bad!"

"And she was still ready to help you work things out, Danny boy. Because she can spot problems a-brewing almost as accurately as I thought you were about to hit your wife. Annette saw Danny boy overcome the shadows cast by an oppressive parent in not doing so, and was ready to help you work it over."

Danny sat silently, and nursed a glass of melting ice while Wukong reached behind him again.

"Turn around, Danny boy."

"There's nothing there," Danny grumbled but still complied. He started and fell back onto his chair, at the scent of shampoo in his nose and the tickling of Annette's hair.

"My eyes can see the truths of the worlds. Danny boy. But they cannot tell me what you saw in your personal truth," Danny trembled in his seat. "What did you see?"

"Annette's shampoo, and the tickling by her hair when I leaned in for a goodbye kiss that morning of her death. We sent off each other that morning with a smile, and I was supposed to consult someone for anger-management sessions along with her."

Wukong dismissed the phone into a wisp of smoke, while Danny stared out into the living room couch where they cuddled after Taylor was put to bed. The monkey grinned, and placed his hand over Danny's shoulder.

"Wukong."

"Yeah?"

"What's the part about your clones leaving your calling card all over a certain part of town?"

The monkey shook with a shrieking laughter.

"Thought you'd never ask."

/x/

Lung's eyelids slowly peeled open as he felt the sun, and he gave himself a self-satisfied smirk and nod at the golden character that bore his name engraved on the roof of his room.

 **龍**

Long- Dragon. A word that meant power, aggression and the inevitable victory that was his. The curves of the word were reminiscent of the elongated body of the dragon departing the foamy sea, while twin horns and whiskers that dealt out blessing and calamity to lesser beings adorned the top of the letter proudly.

The name of his disguise in contrast had no real meaning. For his father was barely literate and gave him the name Kenta while unsure how it's to be written.

Lung was a dragon, and inevitable in his wake. Kenta was a ghost of his past, and a mask like lesser capes would wear. Satisfied, he pushed the covers aside and slid out of his bed unhindered for he chose to sleep alone last night. As Lung sauntered over to his door, his ears perked at the waves of panicked speech he heard drift from the streets below. Lung frowned, as he picked up one word that kept being repeated in all the tongues spoken by the ABB. A word he had forbidden to be openly spoken and displayed in his presence except in English, for in it's original form it was a direct assault on the dragon.

Worm-虫. Chong.

Lung and anyone who was literate immediately saw a de-horned, defanged dragon in that loathsome word. A mighty serpent of the gods, reduced to wriggling in the mud. One particularly dense Vietnamese branch leader had breached that taboo, and after taking his right arm Lung had demanded tribute.

A tribute in the form of a rotating twenty feet dragon statute, shaped like the word itself. Placed on top of a building below his room, Lung would see his likeliness dominate the skyline of his domain the minute he pulled open the drapes. The gang leader felt his real form lurk beneath his skin as he went to the windows, and with a growl he pulled open the drapes.

Worm. Worms everywhere! The accursed 虫 character was painted in bright red paint all over the facades of every building within the Docks and the rest of ABB turf. Work crews brandished brushes and spray paint emptied their reserves of paint over the offending word, but as soon as the new coat covered the old paint it reappeared again. The glass of his windows shattered at his roar and the fireball he spat out into the sky, before he focused his attention at the dragon statue that was covered with a large brown sheet. As foreman yelled out instructions to their crew around the covered edifice, Lung pressed the speaker button on his phone and barked orders into it.

"Remove that sheet. _Now._ "

Lung had not specified which sheet it was, and what it was covering. Nor was his speech particularly audible. But his underlings had long learned to decipher his words spoken in his true form, and the ones on his phone were the ones capable of second-guessing his intentions perfectly well. A foreman answered his phone, and his eyes went wide with fear as he saw Lung looking down. The commotion of the workers went silent as their foreman gave a single word order, and as soon as the canvas sheet rolled down the statute when the ropes that held it in place were removed all of the ABB workers ran.

Lung showed no interest in them, for his attention was fixed on the grave offense on display. A monkey with a cudgel, dressed in a golden chainmail and two pheasant tail feathers handing off a headdress he wore. The dragon that once rose towards the heavens in all it's grave majesty now kissed the earth while the simian stood on it's back. It's horns now hung off the belt of the monkey, while it's claws were torn off. As his anger grew, so did his hearing. Lung turned to his back, nostrils smoking and ready to burn the intruder to cinders when he heard the buzz of a fly's wings accompanied by the howl of a monkey.

But the room was empty, except for a mosquito that was just ambling above him and out of the windows. Lung's suspicions were aroused, and he walked over to his bed to look at the roof above it.

Then Lung saw the message, painted bright red in English over his carved letter. The roar was heard over at the Protectorate Rig, while the pillar of flame was seen by witnesses on Captain's Hill.

 _Wukong wuz here! Monkeys rulez, dragons droolz_.


End file.
